


One Good Turn (Deserves Lunch)

by ShadowMystXII



Series: Path of the Fang [2]
Category: Alice In Wonderland - Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland (Movies - Burton), Mad T Party Band
Genre: Band Fic, Enemies to Friends, Gen, Light-Hearted
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-06
Updated: 2019-04-06
Packaged: 2019-12-30 07:05:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18310622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ShadowMystXII/pseuds/ShadowMystXII
Summary: Thackery gauges the pros and cons of interacting with the band's newest, most unwanted member





	One Good Turn (Deserves Lunch)

The Jabberwock girl sat against a wall of the Mad T Party’s space in the rehearsal warehouse, various paraphernalia scattered about her as she had pulled things out of her bag. Thackery noted the plastic box with a picture on it sitting next to her foot. As he worked on re-tuning his bass, he watched her slide the box in front of her and flip the lid open. From that angle, he could make out various small plastic bags with bright colors inside. She began pulling the bags out and arranging them on her lap.

_Green grapes._

_Orange … fishes?_

_Tiny twigs? What the—_

_That’s a sandwich. Looks weird though._

_Two silver … pouch … things. That she’s stabbing. Oh! It must be some kind of drink._

The Hare’s eyebrow rose at each reveal, and he realized he was watching the Jabberwock girl prepping to eat lunch.

“Huh. Wish I’d thought of that.”

* * *

He’d been watching her methodically take tidbits out of the bags without looking and pop them into her mouth between bites of sandwich. Thack still couldn’t tell exactly what kind it was but there was a slightly sweet smell wafting faintly from her direction.

He glanced at his watch. Everyone still had at least half an hour before they’d even head that direction. Thackery sighed and grumbled at himself under his breath. By the time he was set for rehearsal, it’d be too late to run and get something.

He cast a slow look in the girl’s direction. Her rate of consumption had slowed to a crawl and she was now on her phone.

_I wonder … maybe she might have something left over. She hasn’t given us any trouble, almost the exact opposite actually._

The Hare stood from his stool, walking over to settle his bass back on its stand. Unrestricted, his full gaze meandered to rest on the Jabberwock.

_Mally’s gonna pitch a fit if he catches me being nice to the girl. Abs too, probably. Tarrant … no idea. Too many variables. But gosh darn it, I need food! And I really want to know what’s in that sandwich._

Before he could talk himself into another go-around, Thackery spun on his heel and strolled towards the dark figure.

* * *

Eirian felt the other Underlandian presence grow stronger as it approached. Her eyes flicked up imperceptibly to watch the March Hare -  _Thackery Earwicket, Thack … to his friends_  - wander towards her. Her thumb never stopped scrolling on her phone screen, but she kept the man in her sights as he came up on her.

She couldn’t help the jerky glance she shot him when he turned and settled himself against the wall next to her. Not right next to her but closer than she figured any one of them would have been voluntarily.

Immediately Eirian mentally clamped down on her insides, willing herself to remain the picture of cool calm aloofness. She didn’t even think about the fact her fingers had stopped moving altogether.

A minute passed.

Three.

Six.

* * *

Thackery decided this was a dumb idea after all. As soon as he’d settled on the ground, getting his legs bent at comfortable angles, everything in his head had gone blank. He tried to surreptitiously take inventory of the food the girl -  _Eirian. Her name is Eirian_  - hadn’t devoured yet, noticing there was a second sandwich beneath the half-eaten crusts of the first. The sweet smell was stronger here, an odd mix of familiar scents that he couldn’t quite identify when they were put together.

After a few moments of tense silence, he found his thoughts had hit a snag and were starting to loop around  _“this was dumb”_  and  _“what IS that smell??”_

He was a few seconds away from getting back up when Thackery’s own body betrayed him. A very audible gurgle of demand sounded from his stomach.

Slowly the Hare’s eyes rolled skyward and he closed them in disbelief.  _Outed by my own organs. Typical._

He hazarded a sideways glance. The girl hadn’t seemed to notice. Maybe he’d gotten lucky.

* * *

With her head angled like it was, Eirian was confident the March Hare couldn’t see the smile twisting the far corner of her mouth. She knew that sound well, hence the food things around her while they waited. She also knew he didn’t know it was her habit to pack more than she needed, just in case she found someone who could use a bite or ten.

_Who’d’ve thought that might include the March Hare one day. What even is my life, I ask ya._

She didn’t react to anything Thackery did after that, but she could feel her own body relaxing in slight increments. Maybe it was the reminder this person next to her was mortal too, in need to the same things she was.

In any case, she carefully schooled her motions into nonchalant ease as she pinched the mouth of the bag of goldfish on her knee and held it in the Hare’s general direction. She didn’t even spare a glance as she kept tapping away at her phone.

* * *

Thackery sat blinking at the outstretched hand and it’s held contents. At this range, he could clearly make out the bright orange fish-shaped objects. He sniffed softly at the air - a new cheesy smell was starting to mix with the strange one, coming from the bag.

Having watched her continuously pop them into her mouth, he didn’t figure they would be too odd for his palate to handle. Trying his best to not knock her hand about, Thack reached into the bag and took a small handful of the fishes before quickly withdrawing, keeping his eyes on the girl’s face  _just in case._

She didn’t do anything but retract her own hand and set the baggie back on her knee.

He studied one of the fish for a moment. Definitely cheese-based. A bit coarse to the touch. And it had a slightly disconcerting smile stamped onto its face.

_Honestly, why are humans like this?_

His stomach gurgled again, galvanizing the Hare to quickly toss three fish into his mouth. Instantly they crunched nicely between his teeth. Thackery looked down at the rest in his hand and smiled - the golden fish were baked crackers.

* * *

Eirian didn’t have to turn her head to watch the Hare’s movements. The tale-tell crunching sounds were enough to make a soft smile flit unbidden across her lips. She waited until the chewing sounds dissipated before moving again. This time, she snagged the uneaten sandwich, shaking her half-eaten crusts off, and held it out towards the Hare.

He didn’t take it immediately. Her arm started to shake a little, making the sandwich bag rustle.

Another moment passed before Eirian canted her head around to finally look directly at the Hare.

His mismatched eyes were narrowed as they roved over her face. Her own expression morphed into slight confusion at the scrutiny and only deepened when his stare lightened and he took the proffered food.

“Thank you.”

Her face shifted back to its neutral setting. “No problem.” She blinked, processing, and slowly turned back to her phone.

“Um. Uh. If I could ask … what exactly is this …?”

She crunched another pretzel stick as she glanced over. The Hare was holding the half-unwrapped sandwich to his nose and taking big whiffs. She smiled.

“Peanut butter and banana. Tastes better than it sounds, I promise.”

She didn’t miss the wary tinge to his next glance but she also didn’t miss his lack of hesitation to take a substantial bite. Thackery chewed thoughtfully for a moment before swallowing.

“You’re right. That’s not half bad at all.”

Her smile widened slightly. Deliberately setting the grapes and fish crackers back in her lunchbox, she casually slid it more between them.

“I’ll keep that in mind. For next time.”

Without thinking, Thackery reached for more goldfish. “I’m Thackery.”

“Eirian.”

“Nice to meet you, Jabberwocky.”

“Same to you, March Hare.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for stopping by, I hope you enjoyed! Feel free to drop a comment, I'd love to hear from you!


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